HOOVER, Alabama - The city of Hoover this morning took time to remember the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the attack on America on Sept. 11, 2001.

About 30 people attended a remembrance ceremony at Hoover Fire Station No. 2 off Patton Chapel Road.

Attendees paid tribute to the people killed at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and on the four airplanes that were hijacked and turned into missiles, as well as thousands of others who have since lost their lives in the war on terror.

Dr. Sarah Nafziger, an associate professor of emergency medicine and director of the Office of Emergency Medical Services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was in New York City for a research conference on the day of the attack and spoke about her experience today at the ceremony in Hoover.

Nafziger, who also serves as the assistant state EMS director for the Alabama Department of Public Health and medical director for the Hoover Fire Department, said she has been to numerous disaster sites over the years, usually after tornadoes or hurricanes, but the one in New York City was different.

"It was not natural. It was not an accident," Nafziger said. "It was manmade, and it was very much intentional."

Dr. Sarah Nafziger at Hoover 2014 9-11 ceremonyDr. Sarah Nafziger, an associate professor of emergency medicine and director of the Office of Emergency Medical Services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, tells about her experience in New York City during the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, during a 9-11 remembrance ceremony at Hoover Fire Station No. 2 in Hoover, Ala., on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013. (Jon Anderson/janderson@al.com)

She was in a hotel conference room when some of her colleagues received pages notifying them that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers, she said. "Oddly enough, they didn't really react," she said. "Apparently, they're used to odd things happening in New York."

But when notice of the second plane hitting the other big tower came, "our world changed forever," Nafziger said.

She found herself on the streets of New York City with thousands of other people who looked different and talked different languages, she said.

"I had a sudden moment of clarity in the midst of all that chaos and confusion," she said. "Out there, we were all Americans. We had a clear, unifying purpose, and we are all Americans, and we were all under attack."

It was very frightening, and a lot of emotions came over her, she said. "We were very fearful at first, to be quite honest," she said. "I really thought that I would probably - that that would be the last day of my life, and I was concerned for my family and how they would compensate for that."

However, "'that fear quickly turned into resolve, and I saw each and every person out there begin to care for one another, begin to cleanse each others' wounds and comfort their tears and provide what little bit of service they could to one another," Nafziger said.

Hoover Councilman John Greene speaks of the sacrifices of firefighters during a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at Hoover Fire Station No. 2 in Hoover, Ala., on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2013. (Jon Anderson/janderson@al.com)

Hoover Councilman John Greene took particular note of the firefighters who risked, and in many cases lost, their lives to protect others that day.

"They were our heroes - the men and women who put aside their own safety to try to serve others, and they did," Greene said. "Thousands of people were save because firefighters came to help them ... What they did that day is what all firefighters stand ready to do every day when the call for help comes in."

"So be assured that as we ring the bell today, we do so to honor those we lost, to give thanks for those who survived and pledge to stand ready with that same commitment to selfless bravery they showed when it was needed the most by so many," Greene said. "May God bless all our firefighters and their families and give them the strength and faith and hope they need."

Today's ceremony in Hoover also included a prayer, a bell-ringing ceremony and a moment of silence for those who were killed 12 years ago today.